Where Strong’s Causeway Would Stand Today

Strong’s Causeway was a roadway and bridge that linked Corona to Flushing from about 1823 to 1935. Its route was replaced by Nassau Boulevard (or Horace Harding) which eventually became the Long Island Expressway. The Flushing River was redirected and dammed when the bridge was removed.

Strong’s Causeway Bridge, early 1920’s, (New York HIstorical Society)

I wanted to know exactly where the bridge stood in terms of today’s landscape, so I took a 1924 aerial map of New York City and traced its roads and rivers. I colored the main roads in dark orange, the minor ones in yellow, the waterways in blue. I then laid it out over a 2006 aerial to compare the features.

2006 Aerial, NYC Digital Archive

What I found was that the causeway was north of the LIE where it would have crossed the Grand Central Parkway, but that it was right about even with the LIE where it crossed the Flushing River. This would be about a third of a mile east of the Grand Central Parkway, right near the Flushing Meadow park pedestrian walkway overpass.

A Causeway Nassau Boulevard 1935 Side By Side PhotoThe photo below is a rare shot of Strong’s Causeway still in use while the adjacent Nassau Boulevard which will soon replace it is under construction next to it. The photo makes for good use as an on the ground comparison to the aerial shot above. If you look to the left of the photo below you can see the Flushing River snaking its way to the left as it continues south of the bridge, which you can also see on the aerial photo above. The positioning of the causeway and new boulevard also make a match to the photo above.

October 2, 1935, Looking Southeast, NYPL Photo, by PL Sperr

Many Thanks to Forgotten New York
We can only imagine what it must have felt like to travel across central Queens at the time of the causeway; The many streams no longer present today, and the famous Flushing ash dump to the north. Sergey Kadinsky and Kevin Walsh of Forgotten New York have published many web posts on this area, and have done a great deal of work relaying scenes of the age of the causeway.

Lecture Alert – On The Flushing River –March 7th, 2013 at Queensboro Hall, 7PM
Sergey Kadinski is presenting a lecture on the Flushing River March 7th, 2013 – This Thursday, at Queensboro Hall at 7PMMore Information here.